For our series "Iconic Itineraries," we've picked destinations that are must-sees but whose tourism infrastructures are so geared to groups that having an authentic experience can seem next to impossible. Not to worry. Working with the world's leading travel specialists, we've created step-by-step trips that let you see the best each place has to offerbut on your terms. Each of our highly detailed itineraries has been vetted and perfected by a Condé Nast Traveler editor, and each can be bought as is with just one phone call or customized at will.

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The Challenge

How do a traveler's best-laid plans get foiled in China? Let me count the ways. First, there's the rise of the country's enormous and newly traveling middle class, which has caused many previously charming spots to become overrun with domestic tourists and overbuilt for the mass market. Second, things in China change overnight—structures go up, neighborhoods are bulldozed, the government rewrites the rules—which means it's tough to get accurate logistical information or trustworthy opinions as to what is worth doing and what's been spoiled; guidebooks are out-of-date as soon as they're published; and advice from anyone who has not been to the specific destinations on your list within the past few months is not reliable. Third, there's the pollution, which wrecks views and curtails your enjoyment of the big cities that the typical China itinerary is heavy on. Fourth, the Chinese tourism infrastructure inflicts a government-dictated mass-market agenda that is not very appealing to the sophisticated traveler. Get within its clutches—as happens on the average tour, including private ones—and you will waste considerable time at ho-hum places, navigating them in a way that is not optimal, with detours for forced shopping, meals at generic tourist restaurants, and layers of middlemen extracting as much money as possible from you along the way.

Sound dreadful? But wait, there's more. Say you're an independent traveler with limited time who wants to experience a smart combo of China's highlights as well as its off-the-beaten-path gems. Since a car is vital and foreigners are rarely allowed to rent one, most travel planners will set you up with a private car and driver, plus an English-speaking guide, in each of the destinations on your itinerary. These guides will make or—if you've chosen the wrong travel planner—break your trip. Normally, guides in China are trained to lead you to what the government has determined will interest you, as opposed to what will actually interest you. They are conditioned to be highly inflexible and to pad their pitifully small paychecks with kickbacks from stores (thus the forced shopping) and with gratuities from you (which is why it is not uncommon to feel emotionally manipulated by them). So where do you find a China travel planner with up-to-date information, reliable taste, special access, and flexible, customer-friendly guides who understand what is pleasing to the eye and authentic rather than a tourist trap, and how do you avoid lines and crowds and pick the restaurants, shops, and activities that are worthwhile?

The Solution

China specialist Gerald Hatherly of Abercrombie & Kent has lived in Hong Kong for 22 years (he started with A&K in 1986 as a China tour leader) and spends 150 days a year traveling throughout the country. He speaks, reads, and writes Mandarin fluently and handpicks the guides he uses. His trips are flexible—A&K itineraries can be changed on the spot—and because the company has offices in Beijing and Shanghai, it can exercise a level of quality control over your itinerary that U.S.-based travel planners can't. (Beware U.S.-based tour operators who say they have "local offices" but don't really: They contract your trip out to second-party travel agencies in China, which in turn use other local agencies, thus foisting on you a string of miscommunicating middlemen. Beware, too, of U.S. tour operators who promise one-on-one experiences with locals in their homes—dumpling cooking lessons, for instance—since such preplanned interactions often turn out to be halfhearted and less a cultural exchange than an awkward financial transaction.) There are other great China tour operators—Imperial Tours and Geographic Expeditions, for instance—but these solve the problem of guide quality control by sending a tour escort with you throughout your trip (in addition to the local guides and drivers). Having this extra person accompany you from start to finish may guarantee that you get the itinerary and service you deserve, but it can also make a trip prohibitively expensive. Gerald's tours represent, to my mind, an optimal combination of great experience and cost-efficiency. I've taken cheaper trips through lesser tour companies, and, believe me, when you factor in how much I had to spend to rectify the countless problems that ensued, in the end they weren't any cheaper.

Besides getting the best guides, it's important to go at the right time of year—from late April through the end of May or from September through the end of October, with the exception of the first few days of May and the first week of October (national holidays when millions of Chinese travel domestically). Key also is to limit the amount of time you're stuck in traffic in grimy industrial cities. For this reason, I have (at the risk of incurring hate mail from China scholars everywhere) eliminated Xi'an—an imperial capital that's home to the terra-cotta warriors, and a staple of group tours. If your goal is to understand ancient Chinese history, I encourage you to include Xi'an. But if your goal is to be charmed by China, your time is better spent elsewhere. For the same reason, I have eliminated another group-tour staple: a Yangtze River cruise. Instead, I recommend Yunnan Province, in southwestern China, near Tibet. It's closer to the pastoral, blue-skied China of your romantic imagination, and the people and landscapes are less spoiled by tourism than in the rural locales on most organized tours (including Guilin and Yangshuo).

I've tried my best to make recommendations that will not be obsolete a few months from now, but given that this is China, it's an impossible task. So, should Gerald make suggestions that contradict mine, follow his. He's there; he knows. Finally, since guides are not as necessary in the big cities as they are in rural areas, if your trip is limited to Beijing or Shanghai and you don't want a guide, my advice is to hire an English-speaking driver through your hotel's concierge and to stay at a highly rated property that caters to Western business travelers, because these typically have the best concierge desks and English-speaking drivers.

Day 1 (Saturday): Beijing

Take it from someone who has navigated China's sprawling capital by subway, bicycle, taxi, and rickshaw: By far the most efficient way to sightsee is by car when traffic is light—which is over a weekend—with a driver who drops you off at one end of a sight or street and picks you up at the other, so you needn't waste time backtracking. If you land in Beijing on a Friday, you can recover from your transpacific flight with a good night's sleep and start your itinerary at the optimal time: Saturday morning. Your hotel? For ambience on a budget, try the Hotel Côté Cour SL (86-10-6512-8020; hotelcotecoursl.com; doubles, $168–$268), a 14-room property in a traditional courtyard compound once inhabited by dancers and musicians of the imperial court. If you're up for a splurge, however, consider the China Club Beijing (86-10-6603-8855; thechinaclubbeijing.com; junior suites, $385), an elegant members-only club in an antiques-filled courtyard-style sixteenth-century palace. Only a few elite tour companies—Abercrombie & Kent, for instance—have access to eight impeccable suites that are furnished with old-fashioned traditional canopy beds and freestanding tubs.

So it's Saturday morning, you've slept through the night (thank you, melatonin), and it's time to throw yourself into the historic center of Beijing, right? Wrong. On Saturday mornings, the Forbidden City—the imperial palace compound that was off-limits to the masses for 500 years—is crammed with domestic-Chinese tour groups, each group wearing matching baseball caps and scurrying after their flag-waving leader. They tend to diminish the majesty of the Ming dynasty courtyards that served as the seat of government until the last emperor abdicated at the start of the twentieth century. So save the Forbidden City for this afternoon, once the crowds have thinned, and head instead to the Capital Museum, which at 9 a.m. will be virtually empty.

The Capital Museum (86-10-6337-0491; capitalmuseum.org.cn) is a brand-new airy architectural knockout filled with innovative 3-D displays that introduce you to Chinese customs and traditions. You need only 90 minutes there and to visit only two floors. On the second floor is a time line that tells you what was happening in Beijing at the same moment as key events in Europe and the United States, so you can put China's history in context. On the fifth floor are reproductions of Chinese homes and street scenes. Both will magnify your appreciation of everything else you'll see in Beijing.

Now that you can envision how locals have lived for centuries in Beijing's traditional residential alleyways—called hutongs—you are ready to explore them yourself. Have your car drop you off at Liulichang Street—a boulevard of antiques and curio shops south of Tiananmen Square. Walk eastward along the pedestrian-only street past the stores that have gotten touristy of late—you can tell from their perfect paint jobs in preparation for the Olympics—and you'll hit a car-free hutong area (note the peeling paint) where you'll see everyday life being lived. After you've had your fill, drive to lunch at Tian Di Yi Jia (140 Nan Chi Zi Dajie, Dong Cheng District; 86-10-8511-5556; meals, $25), a courtyard compound within the former Imperial City that has been beautifully decorated with a mix of traditional Chinese furniture and striking contemporary art.

Now that it's about 2 p.m., head for the Forbidden City's north gate (the rear entrance), and proceed from north to south (back to front), since this will mean fewer crowds than if you entered at Tiananmen Square (forbiddencitychina.com). Stroll through the Imperial Garden into the courtyards where the emperor, the empress, their children, and his concubines lived. Don't miss the hall where the disastrous Dowager Empress Cixi, the power behind the throne for 50 years, sat invisibly behind a yellow silk screen, whispering commands to her young nephew, the emperor.

By the time you reach Tiananmen Square your legs will be shot, so return to your hotel for a rest before your Peking duck dinner at the Da Dong Roast Duck Restaurant (22 Dongsishitiao; 86-10-5169-0328; meals, $55), Beijing's best spot for relatively non-fatty duck.

Day 2 (Sunday): Beijing

Locals gather every morning in Tiantan Park, which surrounds the Temple of Heaven, but the scene is most colorful on Sunday mornings. Don't miss the temple itself, of course, as it is a paragon of Ming dynasty design. Its intricate wooden pagodas were built with no nails—just bracketing and joints (like most Chinese antique furniture). Before leaving the park via the east gate, stop by the Teahouse, where you can sit down to a flavorful lesson in Chinese tea ceremonies. It's touristy, but it's interesting and fun enough to be worth the stop.

Sunday morning is also the best time for the Panjiayuan Market (18 Huaweili; panjiayuan.com), Beijing's largest outdoor antiques and flea market. It's an engaging scene even if you're not a shopper. If you are, buyer beware: Most of the "antiques" are phony, and you must bargain hard for whatever souvenirs catch your eye.

Your next stop is a place that was for me the highlight of Beijing: the Children's Palace (11 Jingshan Park Back-St.; 86-10-6406-0397). Set in buildings that once belonged to the Forbidden City, it's where many of the city's most talented children go for extracurricular classes. Only with an appointment can you stop in to watch as they learn violin, piano, calligraphy, gymnastics, and martial arts.

At lunchtime, head to the nearby Sichuan Restaurant, located next to Prince Gong's Mansion (14A Liuyin St.; 86-10-6615-6924; meals, $14). Accustomed to serving tourists without being touristy, it also happens to have been Deng Xiaoping's favorite eatery. I don't know what Deng used to order, but you should try the tea-smoked duck, the fish-scented eggplant, and the Four Season Beans cooked in garlic, scallion, and minced pork.

Much of what you've seen so far in Beijing has been old and dusty, so now's the time to get a feel for the country's hip side. Factory 798 (86-10-8457-2188; 798art.org) is a cluster of converted industrial buildings that is the center of Beijing's burgeoning arts scene. You'll find galleries, cafés, and boutiques selling artist-designed items. The complex is enormous and labyrinthine, so start by buying a map of it at Timezone 8 Art Books (798 Dashanzi Art Factory). Then visit two well-regarded galleries a short walk away: the Long March Project (longmarchspace.com), a good not-for-profit organization that nurtures new artistic talent, and the Commune Gallery (beijingcommune.com), founded by curator and critic Leng Lin and dedicated to top Chinese contemporary artists. Next, take the five-minute drive to Caochangdi Village to see the collections at Pekin Fine Arts (pekinfinearts.com), run by 20-year China resident Meg Maggio, who promotes great Asian artists, and Guang Han Tang (guanghantang.com), which has exquisite antique furniture from the Ming and Qing dynasties. For more contemporary Chinese art, stop by Universal Studios Beijing (universalstudios.org.cn) and the CourtYard Annex (courtyard-gallery.com).

Tonight is a convenient time for a taste of classic Peking Opera (86-10-6351-8284; tickets from $25)—though the taste is an acquired one—at the Huguang Theater, a former guild hall dating from 1807. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. and you'll be out by 9—or at intermission (but first visit the open-during-intermission-or-upon-request opera museum attached to the theater).

You'll want to wake up early tomorrow, so forgo a sit-down dinner in favor of some quick and authentic food at the Donghuamen Night Market. The many yummy noodle, dumpling, and veggie snacks should be safe as long as they are boiled or steamed while you watch (Donghuamen Dajie; dishes, $3–$8). Two blocks away is the Beijing 2008 Olympic Flagship Store (Wangfujing St.), in case you'd like to make a souvenir run.

Day 3 (Monday): The Great Wall and the Summer Palace

The Great Wall—the world's longest, built 2,200 years ago to protect China from invading armies—tends to lose some of its grandeur when crawling with baseball-capped tourists. Leave your hotel at 7 a.m., however, and you can avoid Monday morning rush hour and ascend the wall before the hordes arrive. There are six sections of the Great Wall accessible to the public—all in various states of decay or restoration—that you must choose among. If you're an avid hiker who has always dreamed of climbing the Wild Wall, you'll want to drive three hours to Jinshanling or Simatai and do the seven-mile hike between them with an experienced guide (since parts have been reduced to rubble). If you're not that rugged or time is a factor, your best bet is the Mutianyu section of the wall, only 90 minutes from town. The watchtowers are in good shape, the cable car is safe, the vistas are beautiful (if it's a clear day), and although there are plenty of vendors selling tourist schlock, at least they're kept off the wall itself. If you leave your hotel at 7 a.m., you will have three hours at Mutianyu—ample time to walk for a mile in each direction before lunch.

En route back to Beijing, stop for a couple of hours at the Summer Palace (86-10-6288-1144; en.summerpalace-china.com), the imperial retreat where, from the eighteenth century until the start of the twentieth, the emperor and his household escaped Beijing's summertime heat. It's a vast park filled with temples, pavilions, gardens, a huge lake, and the world's longest covered walkway, decorated with 8,000 paintings. It's best to visit in the midafternoon, because it can be a mob scene in the morning. Walk the Long Corridor, climb Longevity Hill to the hilltop temple if visibility is good, take a dragon boat ride on Kunming Lake, and hit Suzhou Street—a re-creation of the garden city of Suzhou in the Qing dynasty, with shops, walkways, and the ambience of a canal town that was built for the Qing rulers.

You'll be back in town around 5 or 6 p.m., and since you must leave for the airport at 5:30 tomorrow morning, you may want to dine early. You could spend your last night in Beijing at Donglaishun (130 Wangfujing St., Dong Cheng District; 86-10-6528-0932), a classic restaurant known for its northern Chinese–style lamb hot pot; it's a fun meal because you get to cook it yourself. Or if a hot spot sounds better to you than hot pot, opt for Chinese nouvelle cuisine at the Whampoa Club (23A Jinrong Jie Jia; 86-10-8808-8828), the younger sister to the trendy Shanghai flagship (see Day 8).

Day 4 (Tuesday): Lijiang

After three days in Beijing you will crave blue skies and fresh air, so escape to Yunnan Province, where you'll begin in Lijiang. True, Lijiang has been turned into a cultural theme park lately, but there are unspoiled nearby villages where the local Naxi (pronounced nah-shee) people, in their traditional blue costumes and headdresses, remain so friendly and endearing that it's still possible to interact with them in a genuine way. The same is true of the Khampa Tibetans who live four hours north of Lijiang in Zhongdian, also known as Gyalthang (the local Tibetan name) and Shangri-La (the official new name the tourist board uses). Four years ago, Chinese authorities declared Zhongdian the location of the fictional Shangri-La in James Hilton's novel Lost Horizon—a place that Hilton described as having "snow mountains, grassland, Tibetan people, red soil plateau, three rivers flowing along, colorless snow-tea, and a lamasery." The name-change gimmick to promote tourism has, alas, worked—and it puts Zhongdian at risk of suffering the same fate as Lijiang. So go soon!

From April through October, a nonstop daily flight leaves Beijing at 7:35 a.m. and arrives in Lijiang at 10:45. Take it and by lunchtime you can be sitting outdoors in the Old Town, at the small canalside restaurant Ma Ma Fu's (45 Mi Shi Xiang, Xin Yi St.; 86-888-512-2285; meals about $15), eating fried noodles and watching the world go by. At least that's where you'll be if you've opted for convenient and economical digs such as the Sanhe Hotel (86-888-512-0891; doubles, $42–$65), whose rustic rooms are set around traditional courtyards in the center of the Old Town. (Rooms near the street can be noisy, so stay in Nos. 301–309 or 201–207, off the courtyard in back.) You won't be lunching at Ma Ma Fu's if you've opted for the city's most luscious property—the Banyan Tree Lijiang (86-888-533-1111; banyantree.com; villas, $500–$1,200), 20 minutes outside of town—because once you check in you won't ever want to leave. Every room is a designer-showcase villa, and there are several restaurants and a gorgeous spa. If your primary goal is to get out and explore the area, stick with the Sanhe—or, if you require Western standards of service and efficiency (including a business center), the modern Grand Lijiang Hotel (86-888-512-8888; doubles, $83–$108), across the street from the entrance to the Old Town. Charming it's not, but it's a good value.

Your first stop after lunch should be Black Dragon Pool, whose park contains several exhibitions about the Naxi people, and these are essential to appreciating what you will see in and around Lijiang. Head first to the Dongba Culture Research Institute. The Naxi have done a good job of preserving their 1,400-year-old heritage because it has been passed down through the centuries by wise men or shamans called dongbas. A dongba-in-training will sit you down in a Naxi classroom and give you a delightful introduction to the traditions at the heart of his culture, which aims at pursuing a life in harmony with nature, animals, and the gods.

As the gardens and pavilions around Black Dragon Pool empty out in the midafternoon, spend at least an hour exploring the park and its sixteenth-century architectural treasures known as Five-Phoenix Pavilions. Don't miss the embroidered silk "paintings" in the silk workshop off Peony Garden (Traditional Culture Exchange Center; 86-159-8793-3240). But make sure that by 4:30 you're at the Lijiang Municipal Museum—the new museum at the north gate of Black Dragon Pool, not the old one next to the Dongba Culture Research Institute—so you have enough time for its Naxi Dongba Culture Exhibition before the building closes at 6 p.m. Seeing the displays—devoted to the ancient manuscripts, costumes, rituals, instruments, and houses of the Naxi—may take no more than an hour, but you'll want at least 30 minutes for the gift shop, where a dongba in full regalia will draw you a customized Naxi pictograph on tree-bark paper ($20). The shop carries a lovely array of Naxi crafts and "antiques," but the prices are high and you must bargain hard.

A good spot for dinner in the Old Town? The upstairs balcony at Old City Beef Restaurant (69 Xinyi St.; 86- 139-8884-4615; meals about $15), where you can gaze onto the streets festively lit up at night. Don't miss the beef soup and just-out-of-the-oven Naxi baba (pancake-shaped local bread).

Day 5 (Wednesday): Lijiang

The Old Town is less touristy by day than by night—if you know where to go. After an hour or so at the vegetable market, stroll through the area's more residential neighborhoods, where you can still see moms doing laundry in a stream while their children play nearby. Climb to Wang Gu Lou Pagoda—but only if it's a clear day—for vistas of the Old Town and the peaks of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. Descend through the Mu Family Palace, a replica of the palace of Lijiang's rulers from the Ming period through the early twentieth century, and end up at the Nature Conservancy's Exhibition Center. The exhibit, in a historic house in the Old Town, shows the conservancy's work in rural Yunnan Province. Don't miss the lovely video Voices of a Sacred Land.

After lunch, perhaps at the convenient Naxi Family Café (Xin Yi Jie; 86-888-511-5749; meals about $16) in the Old Town, head to the countryside around Lijiang to explore villages where Naxi farmers still live as they have for generations. In Yuhu, wander amid traditional stone houses and peep into the friendly inhabitants' courtyards. You'll also find the former residence of Dr. Joseph Rock, an Austrian-American scientist who lived in China from the 1920s through the 1940s, studying Naxi culture and leading National Geographic Society expeditions. There is a fascinating photo exhibit showing what life was like then.

Next, head to the village of Baisha, which once was the capital of the Naxi kingdom and now is a good place to see the Naxi doing their everyday thing—playing cards, drinking tea, hauling produce. You'll also find, in the sixteenth-century Phoenix Pavilion, the Bai Sha murals, whose fusion of animist images with Chinese Daoist, Tibetan Buddhist, and Mahayana Buddhist ones reflects the Naxi's choice not to reject outside cultures but rather to learn from them.

Only a two-minute drive from Baisha is the Banyan Tree Li-jiang, so if you're staying there, you'll be tempted to retreat to the hotel for the rest of the day. If not, head back to the Old Town for dinner at Hong Lou (70 Xin Yi St.; 86-888-512-1548; meals about $15), run by a group of Naxi women. Make sure that by 8 p.m. you are seated in the beautiful Na-Xi Concert Hall for a performance by the Naxi Orchestra, whose 24 musicians play lilting melodies on ancient stringed instruments that look a bit like something out of Dr. Seuss. You won't hear these exotic tunes elsewhere in China, so don't miss them. After the concert, introduce yourself to the veteran conductor Xuan Ke—a fascinating man who speaks fluent English, which he learned partly from Dr. Rock, who lived with Xuan's family for a time. A musical prodigy who studied Western classical music until he was imprisoned for 27 years when the Communists came to power, Xuan was rehabilitated in 1978 and since then has been researching the region's ancient musical traditions. Attention, Banyan Tree guests who are likely to hole up in their villas this evening: Be sure to attend the Naxi concert on the first night in Lijiang.

Day 6 (Thursday): Drive to Zhongdian

Before hitting the road, make sure your A&K guide has picked up some bottles of water. The scenic drive north to Zhongdian takes three or four hours if you're going direct, but you'll want to make a few stops en route to explore small communities and photograph natural wonders. The ride takes you past farm country and fruit stands until you reach the first lookout terraces over the Yangtze. You'll want to snap some photos on the terraces, but avoid the Buddhist temple—the authorities will try to get you to contribute money, and there is some concern that the monks aren't even monks.

Continue on to the village of Shigu, which sits at the first bend in the Yangtze, where the river does a V-shaped turn before continuing eastward. The 300-degree twist makes for panoramic, though usually mist-shrouded, views. The best day for Shigu is market day—which happens every third day—but at any time you can see the town's Red Army Memorial, a moving statue of a soldier and a Naxi farmer that commemorates the winter crossing of the Yangtze by 20,000 Red Army soldiers at the start of the Long March in 1934. Continue on to Shigu's giant sixteenth-century shi gu (stone drum), which memorializes a joint Naxi/Han army victory over an invading force from Tibet and is believed to have magical powers. Take a walk along the town's main street, have an early lunch at the charming little Jiang Nan Restaurant, and then leave Shigu for Tiger Leaping Gorge, so named because, according to local legend, a tiger fleeing from a hunter was able to leap across its narrowest point (which, by the way, is 82 feet wide). The gorge, one of the world's deepest river canyons, can be accessed from either the Lijiang side or the Zhongdian side of the river—but the former seems preferable. The latter requires walking 1,100 steps down to the river—which means walking back up again. A few miles away, a monstrous parking garage is being built where you will soon be required to park your car and board buses to get to the gorge. The Lijiang side, on the other hand, has a level walking path that runs alongside the river, taking you through the gorge and affording more scenic vistas; if there has been rainy weather, though, you need to watch out for falling rocks. The gorge is most impressive during the high-water months from June through September, when the river thunders through. A round-trip hike on the Lijiang side from the parking lot to the narrowest part of the gorge and back will take you about 90 minutes.

Then continue your drive north to Zhongdian. You will climb and climb, perhaps driving through clouds, until you reach Zhongdian, at 10,500 feet. Ward off altitude sickness by drinking plenty of water during the ride.

The hotel quandary you face in Zhongdian is similar to the one in Lijiang: If you stay at the most inviting property—the Banyan Tree Ringha (86-887-828-8822; banyantree.com; doubles, $400–$900), a 40-minute drive from town—you won't want to leave your room, and therefore you may miss a lot. Again, if sensual delights are a priority, opt for the Banyan Tree, whose villas resemble traditional Tibetan lodges, only a helluva lot plusher. If sightseeing or affordability is your priority, stay at the quaint 22-room Songtsam Hotel (86-887-828-8889; songtsam.com; doubles, $75), within walking distance of Zhongdian's most famous monument, Songzanlin Monastery. Request a standard room with a balcony facing the lake. As soon as you check in, order a pot of ginger tea, the local antidote for altitude sickness. It's so tasty, you'll be an addict before long.

The lack of oxygen can tire you out, so tonight you'll want to take it easy, avoid alcohol, and turn in early. At the Puppet Restaurant (Old Town St.; 86-887-822-5485; meals about $17), order the thendu soup (with yak meat and handmade noodles), Tibetan potato curry, and momo (Tibetan dumplings) stuffed with either yak or vegetables.

Day 7 (Friday): Zhongdian

The town that I think of in my heart not as Zhongdian or Shangri-La but as Gyalthang (pronounced gehl-tung)—since that's what the locals call it—sits amid a stunning landscape of tranquil lakes framed by snowcapped mountains and valleys dotted with wildflowers and horses. The region's three parallel rivers—the Mekong, Salween, and Yangtze—have made it a World Heritage Site. The city itself has a Wild West flavor—yaks and black pigs wander through the streets at rush hour—and the car-free Old Town has not yet been gussied up Lijiang-style. Of course, tourism is growing so fast that, by the time this article comes out, the town may also have finished building the massive parking garage where visitors to Songzanlin Monastery, Yunnan Province's largest, will be required to park their cars and board tour buses to get back and forth. If you're staying at the Songtsam Hotel, though, the monastery is just a short walk away. I don't know if it's the lamasery of the Shangri-La of Lost Horizon, but I do know that about 500 lamas live there, including two adorable little boys. Stop by the small second-floor chapel—the room of the Protector of Gyalthang—where monks sit on the floor chanting and praying.

Next stop, the vegetable market—there are three. The most engaging and photogenic is the oldest, which you'll find in the New Town, across the street from the People's Bank of China building. You'll see Khampa Tibetans in their traditional ethnic garb, as well as a few monks, buying everything from yak cheese to noodle soup to Tibetan black clay cookware.

Hit the Tibetan-style Old Town next. The renovated section is lined with shops with trilingual signage (Tibetan, Chinese, and English) and names like Lucky and Trustworthy Silver Workshop Handed Down from Generation to Generation. Don't miss the brand-new Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture Museum, which will introduce you to the region's Tibetan minorities.

After a lunch of warm, sweet, gooey yak cheese and baba at a spot in the New Town that's a favorite among locals—Tashi Khata ("Lucky White Scarf")—and after buying a prayer flag ($2) for use later this afternoon, head out of town. Get a feel for the "road to Tibet" by driving half an hour along this dramatically winding highway as far as the town of Nixi. Stop by Nixi's Tibetan Black Pottery Workshop to watch artisans shaping the clay with their hands and wooden tools, just as they've done for centuries. Turn around and drive back to Zhongdian, and then to the tiny village of Ringha, set amid rolling meadows where medicinal herbs grow. It's well worth the climb of several hundred steps to reach Five Wisdom Buddha Temple, a serene hilltop haven that is a reflection of the local culture of people and animals living together in harmony. Beneath the countless prayer flags strung around the temple, you'll find clusters of surprisingly outgoing goats, sheep, and black pigs. (At the Tibetan New Year, such animals are given to the monastery as a form of atonement for livestock that have been killed; at the temple, nobody will harm them—which is why they are so friendly toward strangers.) Remember that prayer flag you bought in town? Tie it up among the other flags.

After tea with a village family in a traditional Tibetan farmhouse, it will be 4:30 or so and you'll be a five-minute walk from the Banyan Tree Ringha. Whether or not you're staying at the hotel, get an herbal massage in its over-the-top Tibetan spa. Dinner tonight in the Old Town should be at Potala Log Cabin (Bei Men Lu; 86-887-822- 8278; meals about $17), a cozy place whose specialty is Gyalthang hot pot.

Next comes the experience that was the highlight of my entire trip. At 8 every night in Zhongdian, the locals come out—older ones in ethnic dress, younger ones not—and dance around the illuminated market square in concentric circles to galvanizing Tibetan rhythms. While the dancers you saw in Lijiang's market square were paid to perform, these people do it for free and with heartfelt zeal: It is a local tradition that knits the community together. Surprisingly, just as many men dance as women—and every bit as gracefully and enthusiastically. Hopefully, you'll join in too. This "square dancing" is a tough scene to photograph, given the darkness and the rapid movements, so don't be shy about standing in the best spot for pictures: smack in the center of the square, while everyone swirls around you in a colorful circle.

Day 8 (Saturday): Fly to Shanghai

Catch the 8:35 a.m. flight out of Zhongdian that gets you into Shanghai at 1:10 p.m. and you will feel as if you've been laser-beamed from the past into the future. You will also, after five hours crammed into a teensy seat on a sold-out plane (the norm here), crave exercise and fresh air. So hit the Bund, Shanghai's waterfront promenade that serves as an introduction to the city's past and future simultaneously: On one side of the bustling Huangpu River sit the former banks and trading houses from the 1920s and '30s, which yield a taste of Old Shanghai, while across the river the space-age skyline of Pudong—the city's financial district on steroids—yields the flavor of New Shanghai.

En route from the airport to the Bund, make one quick stop—not at your hotel, since checking in now will waste precious daylight sightseeing hours (a big advantage of having a car and driver is that you can keep your bags in the car), but rather at the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall. A half-hour visit will give you an overview of how quickly the city is changing and will enhance your appreciation of everything else you'll see in Shanghai. In addition to a giant model of the city as it currently looks, you will find (on the third floor) another giant model, of Shanghai 2010—the year the city will host the World Expo—that is remarkable for its sheer intricacy as well as for the futuristic picture it paints (100 Renmin Da Dao; 86-21-6372-2077).

Time for the Bund, which you should reach around 3:30. The landmark Peace Hotel is closed for renovations but is nonetheless a good place to start your walk, since it's where the Bund intersects Nanjing Road, one of Shanghai's shopping meccas. As you stroll down the Bund, check out the up-and-coming side streets and peek into some of the fashionable new boutiques, galleries, and cafés. At No. 5 on the Bund, stop by two of Shanghai's hottest spots: the restaurant M on the Bund (86-21-6350-9988; entrées, $26–$42) and the Glamour Bar. Across the street is Three on the Bund (threeonthebund.com), the stylish Michael Graves–designed restaurant and shopping center; pop into its Shanghai Gallery of Art for a view of the building's cool atrium. Three on the Bund is home to Laris (86-21-6321-9922; entrées, $28–$40), Jean-Georges Shanghai, and the Whampoa Club—all superb restaurants that serve international cuisine to China's nouveaux riches, foreign visitors on expense accounts, and you: You've got a 7:30 dinner reservation.

It's still only about 5:30, though. If visibility is good as sunset approaches, hop across the river to Pudong and grab a drink with a dazzling view at the Grand Hyatt's Cloud 9 Bar (88 Century Blvd.; 86-21-5049-1234), atop the Jin Mao Tower, China's tallest building. Your guide will point out how the skyline will be changed by what you saw at the Urban Planning Exhibition Hall. Too much haze? Another pre-dinner option—if the hip contemporary-art scene at Beijing's Factory 798 left you hungry for more—would be a visit to M50, Shanghai's new converted-warehouse art district on Suzhou Creek. Now is the best opportunity for your A&K car to zip you over there, and an hour is enough time to get a pretty good sense of it (you can also get a feel for it at shangartgallery.com and artscenewarehouse.com).

After dinner at Laris or M on the Bund, it will be time to check in to your hotel in the former French Concession—Shanghai's most charming neighborhood, with European-style mansions and leafy streets filled with restaurants, boutiques, and nightspots. The place to stay, if you can afford it, is the Mansion Hotel (86-21-5403-9888; chinamansionhotel.com; doubles, $380–$680), an exquisitely decorated 32-room property that reeks of Old Shanghai; splurge on a "special king double"—at $680 the least expensive room type with a front-facing view, which means you look out onto the elegant courtyard and cityscape.

Day 9 (Sunday): Zhujiajiao and Shanghai

If Shanghai is the Paris of China, Zhujiajiao might be its Venice—a small Venice, to be sure, but well worth a half-day trip, since it's one of the few traditional water towns that have not gotten too commercial. On a Sunday morning, when the traffic is light, you can zip there from Shanghai in only 45 minutes. In Zhujiajiao's car-free maze of canals, bridges, and narrow lanes lined with shops on the ground floor and the shopkeepers' residences above, you will see the routines of daily life.

The City God Temple is a good first stop. Amid the burning incense and the worshippers bowing in prayer in four directions (since there are gods to the north, south, east, and west), you can find your god—which in the Chinese calendar is determined by the year you were born—by locating your year among the dozens of vividly painted god statues. Another good stop: the Qing Dynasty Post Office, a sweet museum inside an old postal station that shows quite artistically how letters were delivered from the Forbidden City to the rest of China from the end of the seventeenth century through 1911. The highlight is a wonderful collection of postcards of nineteenth-century Shanghai, although it may drive you nuts to see how much was razed to make way for today's skyscrapers.

You can easily be back in Shanghai by 2 p.m. for your insider's tour of Old Shanghai—those alleys, lane houses, and tiny pockets of the city that have thus far managed to escape the wrecking ball. These half-hidden gems are easy to walk right past unless you're with a Shanghai historian who can point them out. Two expats who have lived in and written about Shanghai for years give customized private tours focusing on the city's architectural heritage: Patrick Cranley, co-founder of Historic Shanghai (historic-shanghai.com), a local preservationist group, and Peter Hibbard, author of The Bund Shanghai: China Faces West (gingergriffin.com). Your tour should concentrate on the French Concession: Before, after, or during the tour, walk along Fenyang Road from the Pushkin statue northward (past the former homes of Chiang Kai-shek and the Song Sisters) to the Arts and Crafts Research Institute (79 Fenyang Rd.; 86-21-6437-3454), a museum in a former French mansion where you can observe artisans engaged in traditional Chinese arts and crafts such as paper cutting, embroidery, and making dough dolls. Have Cranley or Hibbard drop you off on Taikang Road in the Lane 248 neighborhood. Grab an early dinner at one of Lane 248's outdoor cafés because at 7:30 you've got an acrobatics show that's a 20- to 30-minute drive away. "ERA: Intersection of Time," at the 1,600-seat Shanghai Circus World (2266 Gonghe Xin Lu; 86-21-6652-5468; era-shanghai.com; 7:30 p.m.–9 p.m.; $11–$80), is a multimedia spectacular that is the most innovative of Shanghai's acrobatic shows: It finishes with six daredevil motorcyclists zooming past one another inside a spherical cage. En route from the Circus Center back to your hotel, ask your guide to write down for you in Chinese characters the name and address of each stop on tomorrow's agenda. Also, if the acrobats left you gob-smacked, decide whether tomorrow night you'd like to see the world-famous Shanghai Acrobatic Troupe in its more formal, traditional show, where the emphasis is less on special effects and more on athletic precision and tight choreography. If so, tell your guide so that A&K can get you last-minute tickets. The show is in a more convenient venue—the Shanghai Center Theatre (1376 Nanjing Rd. W.; 86-21-6279-8663; shanghaiacrobats.com; $14–$28), next to the Portman Ritz-Carlton—but it also starts at 7:30, which means you can't enjoy a nice leisurely dinner on your final night in Shanghai. The best seats are in rows 6 through 11.

Day 10 (Monday): Shanghai

I've organized your three days in Shanghai so that today's agenda can be accomplished on your own. Why? First, you've had a guide and driver from the moment you landed in China, and by now you are probably itching to improvise and wander. Second, it saves you money. Much of today can be done on foot, but you'll be hailing a few taxis as well, which is why you asked your guide to jot down that list of addresses in Chinese; you'll show it to your cabdrivers.

Start at the Shanghai Museum (2 Renmin Da Dao; 86-21-6372-3500; shanghaimuseum.net), which is least crowded when it opens at 9 a.m. It is arguably China's single best museum, thanks to the scope and quality of its ancient art—bronzes, ceramics, paintings, furniture, calligraphy, jade, coins—and the technology it uses to display them so beautifully. The English signage is great, but it's still worth renting the audio guide. Don't skip the intricate ethnic-minority costumes—China has more than 50 ethnic minorities, and the exhibit highlights just how distinctive they are—or the fabulous gift shop.

Hungry for lunch? If you're a true foodie eager for traditional Shanghai cuisine, it's worth the 15-minute walk west along Nanjing Road (the busy boulevard with all the giant department stores that you glimpsed from the Bund, at its eastern end, the other day) to have lunch at Meilongzhen (Bldg. 22, 1081 Nanjing Rd. W., opposite the Meilongzhen Shopping Center; 86-21-6253-5353; meals, $11–$20), an institution dating from 1938 that may be the city's single best Shanghainese restaurant. Order the luobuo su bing (radish cakes wrapped in phylo pastry), the xiao long bao (traditional Shanghai-style steamed dumplings stuffed with pork or crab), the ti pang (braised pork shank), and the shi zi tou (pork and crabmeat balls stewed with braised cabbage). If a happening scene's more important than cuisine, walk ten minutes south of the Shanghai Museum to Xintiandi (pronounced shin-tyan-dee)—a two-block district of restored shikumen stone houses that has been so successfully turned into a hot shopping, dining, and entertainment center that it serves as an important Shanghai showcase and an impetus for the renovation of places like Lane 248. A good lunch choice— if there's a table available upstairs—is Ye Shanghai (338 Huang Pi Nan Lu, House 6 Xintiandi; 86-21-6311-2323; meals, $40–$55).

After lunch, stroll over to the Dongtai Road street market (87 Dongtai Lu; cash only), just southeast of Huahai Park and a 15-minute cab ride from Meilongzhen. It's an antiques and curios bazaar where you will find everything from Mao watches and Communist-era posters to embroidered slippers for bound feet. (Be warned: You must bargain, and assume that little is genuine.) The neighborhood will give you a glimpse of how people lived in Shanghai years ago—and how some of them still live, without indoor toilets or stoves.

Continue walking east from Dongtai Road, and in 10 or 15 minutes you will hit the Yu Yuan Gardens (218 Anren Jie), a traditional Chinese garden compound dating from 1559 that covers five acres and includes pools, pavilions, rockeries, and a zigzag bridge. It's Shanghai's number one attraction for domestic tour groups and is unbearably crowded in the mornings and on weekends—which is why you're going now, at 4 p.m. The Yu Yuan Gardens close at 5, so you've got an hour.

Unless you opted for the Shanghai Acrobatic Troupe this evening, you can spend your final night in the city enjoying a leisurely dinner. Try Lost Heaven (38 Gao You Rd., by Fuxing Xi Rd.; 86-21-6433-5126; meals, $27–$40), a restored 1920s high-ceilinged villa in the French Concession where the excellent food and decor blend Burmese and Yunnan styles.

Day 11 (Tuesday): Hangzhou

After China's concrete jungles, Hangzhou, considered the country's most livable city, is a breath of fresh air. Since West Lake is best explored on your own—by foot, bike, and boat—I've arranged your two days in Hangzhou so that on the first you will blitz those must-sees where you benefit from having a guide, and on the second you can amble around the lake on your own. Hangzhou's highlights are many—it was China's capital during two dynasties and is renowned for its tea and silk—so I've selected those sights that best round out your introduction to Chinese culture.

Catch the 7:53 a.m. bullet train out of the Shanghai South Station, which arrives at the Hangzhou train station closest to the lake at 9:08, and by 9:45 you can be at the Lingyin Temple (1 Fayun Lane; 86-571-8798-8665)—the largest, oldest, and most famous Buddhist monastery in southern China. The temple complex will be crowded (the only time you can avoid the hordes is at 7:30 a.m.), but because it's a major pilgrimage spot, the crowds are interesting: a line of crimson-robed Tibetan nuns here, a cluster of chanting monks there. The Great Hall contains probably the most striking Buddha you will see during your trip: China's largest sitting Buddha, 81 feet tall, gilded and planted on a giant lotus.

Besides understanding the importance of Buddhism in Chinese culture, it's equally critical to steep yourself in the significance of tea. Hangzhou is the source of China's finest green tea: Dragon Well, named after a serene spring situated amid the tea plantations just outside the city. At the teahouse at Dragon Well Village, you can learn about and sample the different varieties (Longjing Rd.; 86-571-8797-5902). The tea is said to have all manner of healing powers, from improving your eyesight to curing heart conditions to helping you lose weight. The finest is the spring harvest tea; a great vintage can fetch $110 to $275 per pound. The tea at Dragon Well Village is of a higher quality than what you can buy downtown or in the United States, so this is the place to stock up. And here you won't be subjected to the hard sell you'll find at the more touristy MeiJiaWu Tea Culture Village, farther up the road.

Next, head to Hangzhou's Old Town and the former residence of Hu Xueyan (Yuanjing Lane, 18 Wangjiang Rd.; 86-571-8682-1131), a wealthy Qing dynasty businessman—the magnificent courtyard garden comes complete with a lake, pavilions, a zigzag bridge, red carp, and trilingual parrots. A good spot for lunch in the Old Town is Huang Fan Er, "Emperor's Kitchen" (53-57 Gaoyon St.; 86-571-8780-7768; meals about $20); order the dongpo pork (a 900-year-old Hangzhou specialty) and, if it's in season (September through early December), hairy crab. A short stroll after lunch will take you to the museum that Hu Xueyan founded in 1874, the Hu Qing Yu Tang Museum of Traditional Chinese Medicine (95 Dajing Lane; 86-571-8702-7507), where hundreds of medicinal plant and animal specimens are displayed, including bugs, snakes, and sea creatures. (It's a good thing you already ate.) Don't miss the old-world workshops where elderly pharmacists (called masters) demonstrate how they make herbal potions. Last comes the museum's highlight: the pharmacy, where more white-coated masters scurry around filling herbal-medicine prescriptions, measuring and mixing all manner of strong-scented ingredients.

Leave the drugstore no later than 3:15 so that you have time for the Xiling Seal Engravers' Society (Solitary Hill; 86-571-8717-9617), a museum in a lovely location on a West Lake islet that is devoted to two of China's indelible cultural traditions: calligraphy, which is not just a way of writing but a beloved art form; and the chop—or seal—a symbol of one's identity and also an object of artistic appreciation. It's likely now 4:15, and there's time for one more stop. Given how important gardens are to Chinese culture, it should be the Botanical Gardens (1 Taoyuanling; 86-571-8796-1908)—the place that best shows off the greenery and flowers for which Hangzhou is famous, especially in the photo-perfect late-afternoon light.

Now have your car deliver you and your luggage to your final hotel, the Shangri-La Hangzhou (78 Beishan Rd.; 86-571-8797-7951; doubles, $195–$445), set amid 40 acres of gardens. Book a $345 East Wing Lake View room so that in the morning you can awaken to a classic Chinese landscape painting outside your window. I won't recommend a budget hotel option for Hangzhou because you'll be guide- and driver-less tomorrow and therefore you should have a crack concierge at your fingertips.

Hangzhou's oldest restaurant, Lou Wai Lou (3 Gushan Rd.; 86-571-8796-9023; meals about $50), is on the same islet as the Seal Engravers' Society, just a 10- to 15-minute walk from your hotel. Make sure your 7 p.m. reservation is for the main dining room, since the private rooms do not have lakeview tables, and order two Hangzhou specialties: beggar's chicken, baked in lotus leaves and clay, and shrimp bathed in Dragon Well tea.

Day 12 (Wednesday): Hangzhou

This is your day of relaxation—you've earned it!—so there's no schedule, only a few suggestions: Catch the misty early-morning scene on the lake, when the locals do their tai chi and dance classes; rent a bike to circle the lake; and catch a boat for a cruise to the islets. The Shangri-La's concierge can help with all three. Be sure to hit two particularly lovely spots: Viewing Fish at Flower Pond (near Nanshan Road, on the south side of the lake), an 800-year-old garden famous for its peonies and carp pond, and Guo's Villa (17 Yang Causeway), an early-twentieth-century family compound built in the style of a classical garden. Into silk? If you didn't see enough of it at the Shanghai Museum or if you're a shopper, check out the China Silk Museum (73-1 Yuhuangshan Rd.; 86-571-8703-5223), the world's largest, which covers the history of silk and has a nifty gift shop, or the Hangzhou Silk Shopping Center, China's biggest silk department store, which sells everything from silk umbrellas to silk hand cream and has a first-floor factory where you can see, step by step, how silkworms become duvets. For last-minute shopping after dinner, check out the night market on Wushan Road. The curios aren't authentic, but the scene is. And when your head hits the pillow tonight, smile at the fact that, thanks to Gerald, you managed to avoid getting chewed up and spat out by the Chinese tourism machine.

XI'AN BONUS TRIP

So you want to add the ancient imperial capital of Xi'an to our 12-day China Iconic Itinerary? The place to squeeze it in is between Beijing and Lijiang, and there are two ways to do it. If you're time-starved and all you really want to see is the Terra-cotta Warriors–the subterranean life-size army that China's first emperor built in the third century B.C. in an attempt to carry his power with him into the afterlife–then fly into Xi'an in the morning and fly out later the same day. More specifically, take the 7:30 a.m. flight from Beijing that lands at 9:25 a.m., meet your car and English-speaking guide at the airport, drive to the Terra-cotta Army site (travel time from the airport is one hour each way), tour the excavation pits (this takes 90 minutes if–and this is a big if–your tour operator has arranged for special parking privileges right next to the pits; if you must park in the lot, add a 45-minute round-trip walk), return to the airport, and fly to Lijiang on the 4:40 p.m. flight that lands at 8:15 p.m. Adding this day in Xi'an to your Iconic Itinerary means adding an extra night in Lijiang.

If you want to come away with a true appreciation for Xi'an, however, you must spend a night there-which means adding two nights to your Iconic Itinerary: one in Xi'an, one in Lijiang. Here's how to do it: Catch the 7:30 a.m. flight from Beijing and you will arrive at the Terra-cotta Army Excavation Site close to 11:00. After visiting pits 1, 2, and 3 and touring the Bronze Chariot Museum, grab lunch at the restaurant (nothing special, but it's your only convenient option) and check out the gift shops at the visitors' center. See an old man in a Mao uniform signing books? That's Yang Zhi Fa, one of the peasants who discovered the Terra-cotta Army in 1974 when he was digging a well.

If you leave the Terra-cotta Army for the city of Xi'an at 1:30, you should arrive in the Old Town by 2:30. Weave through the narrow lanes and past the souvenir stands of the old Muslim Quarter on foot until you arrive at the Great Mosque, one of China's largest, and a unique fusion of Chinese and Islamic architecture. Gerald Hatherly of A&K can arrange for private entrée into the Mosque's piece de resistance: the magnificent Prayer Hall, normally closed to non-Muslims. At 3:30 head to the Shaanxi History Museum–a must for a proper understanding of the achievements of the Han period (206 B.C.-220 A.D.) and the Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.). Gerald can get you into the vault to view a series of eighth-century imperial murals that come from three royal tombs of the Tang Dynasty and are off-limits to the general public. At 5:00 leave for the South Gate of the city's 14th-century wall and spend half an hour strolling the wall, admiring the views of the Old Town.

After breakfast on the plane and lunch at the visitors' center, you will be dying for a decent dinner. Xi'an is famous for its dumplings, and one of the best places to sample the tremendous variety is at Defachang, the largest of Xi'an's dumpling houses. Yes, it's touristy, but the food is worth it, and you can watch the dumplings being made in the kitchen (Anban St. Zhonggulou Square; 86-29-727-6453; meal for one, $12). After a post-dinner stroll through Xi'an's colorful Hui Muslim night market, it will be time to collapse at your hotel. Since you're spending so little time there, consider the charmless but economical three-star Bell Tower Hotel (110 Nan Da Jie; 86-29-8760-0000; doubles, $78-$120). If five-star comfort is a must, go for the Shangri-La Xi'an (NOT the Shangri-La Golden Flower) –the newest and plushest property in town. Centrally located it's not, but it's convenient to where you're headed tomorrow morning (38B Keji Road; 86-29-8875-8888; doubles, $115-$198).

At 8 a.m. hit the road again for one last sightseeing stop before your flight out: the Han Yangling Excavation Site, currently the most interesting of the archaeological digs in the Xi'an region. In 1990, when a new road to the airport was being built, archaeologists who were called in to do soil test sampling discovered a series of satellite tombs that turned out to be the burial site of Jing Di, an emperor who died in 141 B.C. Eighty tombs have now been excavated, yielding more than 100,000 artifacts and treasures from the Han period. The site's newest museum is the most technologically advanced of its kind in the world: You can walk over the tombs and then descend and view them from the side as well.

Head for the airport at 9:45 a.m. so you can catch the 10:55 a.m. flight that will put you down in Lijiang (after a three-hour layover in Kunming; bring a good book, as there's little point in leaving the airport!) at 5:05 p.m.

THE COSTS

The cost of the one-day visit to Xi'an is $373 per person, based on double occupancy (this includes the air fare from Xi'an to Lijiang). The cost of the overnight visit to Xi'an is $703 (if you stay at the Bell Tower Hotel) or $763 (if you choose the Shangri-La Xi'an) per person, based on double occupancy (this includes the air fare from Xi'an to Lijiang). Not included are the special optional arrangements–namely, preferential parking next to the Terra-cotta Army's excavation pits, admission to the Shaanxi History Museum's vault, and entry into the Great Mosque's Prayer Hall and other closed parts of the Mosque–which total $520.

Guilin/Ping An Bonus Trip

By Kathryn Maier

If you want to get out of the big cities and see a traditional rural area but you're susceptible to altitude sickness or don't have a full four days for the colorful ethnic-minority people of Yunnan Province, you might want to replace the Lijiang/Zhongdian portion of the itinerary with a two-night visit to an ethnic-minority area not nearly as many hours away: Guilin and the village of Ping An, set among the Longsheng rice terraces about a three-hour flight from Beijing. Coming here means trading the high elevation of the mostly untouristed Tibetan Plateau for the subtropical lowlands (and denser crowds) of southern China, and the friendly Naxi ethnic group for the outgoing–sometimes brash–Yao people and the more reticent Zhuang people, but you'll still get a feel for the rural side of China. A note on weather: Unlike Yunnan, which is best from late spring to mid-autumn, fall is by far the best time to visit Ping An; springtime is rainy, which makes walking the village paths difficult, and summer is stiflingly hot and humid. This is an area that's best walked–and be forewarned, a visit here involves a good deal of trekking on very rocky paths and up and down lots of steps–so dry, temperate climates are a necessity.

Catch the morning flight from Beijing, which arrives in Guilin shortly after noon. From here, it's an hour's drive to the Hotel of Modern Art, which sits about 35 minutes outside this city of 600,000 people, a major tourist destination for its natural scenery and proximity to the lovely Li River (Dabu Town; 86-773-3868-7888; yuzile.com; doubles, $270-$320). Set on the grounds of Yuzi Paradise, a peaceful 1,500-acre sculpture park, the hotel will seem like an oasis of calm after the crowds and fast pace of Beijing. Its modern but minimalist decor incorporates plenty of bright colors, plush fabrics, and whimsical touches, such as the high-backed chairs fit for a giraffe that you'll see in the reception area. Each of the 49 rooms is decorated differently, but you might opt for No. 2210, a standard twin decorated in a mod sixties style, with hot-pink accents and a great view of the surrounding jagged limestone peaks of the famous Karst Mountains, a landscape often shown in traditional Chinese paintings.

Tempted as you'll be to stay inside and gaze at the mountains from your room, go downstairs instead and hop into one of the hotel's golf carts (which resemble cartoonish Model Ts) with a hotel staffer for a guided tour of the Yuzi Paradise Sculpture Park, founded in 1998 by a Taiwanese real-estate tycoon. The park, unlike many tourist attractions in China, shows that real care has been paid to its aesthetics, and a trip here is a reprieve from the hustle and crowds that can make so many other sites an exhausting experience. Stop first at the park's atelier, where you can watch its artisans as they sculpt, fashion furniture for the hotel, or work on larger pieces for the grounds. Then it's back to your cart to tour the well-manicured grounds, which are punctuated by some 200 sculptures–including standouts like Flying on Water, an elegant white fanlike shape rising from the waters of a shallow lake, and Average Hectic Day, a tall bronze jumble of simple forms–created by artists from around the world. When you're done driving around, swing by the two gift shops at the International Art Center near the hotel; the painted teacups and vases make great souvenirs.

After some shopping, hit the General Coffee Shop restaurant at the hotel at 5 P.M. for an early dinner of simple but excellent Chinese food, before your driver picks you up at 6:30 for the 40-minute drive to the town of Yangshuo. There, you'll catch a performance of Liusanjie, an hour-long sound-and-light extravaganza set on the Li River amidst the Karst Mountains and featuring many of the ethnic minorities who live in the surrounding area. The show's over-the-top choreographed dance numbers and aggressively blinking LED lights (affixed to the performers' costumes, yet) can feel overwhelming, even cheesy, but the production is worth seeing for two reasons: First, it's directed by noted filmmaker Zhang Yimou, who is also the impresario behind the opening ceremony for the upcoming Olympics in Beijing. And second, this is contemporary China, including the garish spectacle and the pushing crowds. Two notes: Skip the VIP seating–it's above the crowd but way in the back-for one of the front rows, where you'll get a better view of the performers' intricate costumes. Also, you'll be sitting outside, so be sure to wear a sweater and, for further comfort, a cushion. You'll be back in the warmth–and calmof your hotel by 10 P.M.

The Chinese characters for the Hotel of Modern Art translate as "Cultivate yourself," and after breakfast the next day, you may want to do just that: private hour-long classes in pottery, sculpture, or painting, taught by Yuzi Paradise's artists-in-residence, can be booked for $12 a person. Before you head down to get your hands dirty, however, make sure you pack up, and transfer everything you need for the next 24 hours into a small, separate bag (I'll explain why later). Hit the road before noon to head for the town of Longsheng, where you'll have the chance to get up close and personal with the type of minority peoples you saw last night on the stage from afar. The area is also home to the famed rice terraces, steep steps carved into the hillside that look like real-life renderings of a topographic map. On the way there, you'll be driving through mostly rural areas among gently rolling hills, and will pass wooden houses, fields with conical haystacks, people selling bananas and pomelos from roadside stands, and farmers herding water buffalo along the main drag. Lunch will be on the road–a boxed meal from the hotel–but you'll stop en route to meander through some traditional villages of the Yao and Zhuang peoples, two of the 55 ethnic-minority groups recognized and protected by the Chinese government. In the villages, pigs and water buffalo are kept on the ground floor of the two- and three-story wooden dwellings, some of which are decorated with red lanterns hanging from the eaves like oversized Christmas lights. Tourism is obviously a major industry in some villages; others, such as those that you'll see during the next day's hike from Ping An, seem nearly untouched by outsiders. You'll arrive at the Ping An area by 3 P.M. and walk up the reputed 1,000 steps to the centuries-old village at the top of the hillside. Take only your overnight bag; the rest of your luggage will stay in the car. Though it sounds intimidating, the hike's really no more intense than a brief low-intensity session on a StairMaster, and a lot more rewarding, since the Li-An Lodge (86-773-758-3318; lianlodge.com; doubles, $240-$327), by far the most charming and comfortable place to stay in the area, awaits you at the top. Request the corner room called "Celadon," which has the best view of the rice terraces.

Drop your bag in your room, slip on sturdy shoes with good traction, and get on your way to hike to the two lookout points north of the lodge, which on a clear day afford magnificent vistas over the green terraced fields. Depending on the season, you might catch farmers harvesting sweet potatoes, fresh ginger, or red chile peppers on the terraces below. At the second, you'll also likely run into a gaggle of fuschia-clad Yao women with Rapunzel-length hair, which they usually wear tied up in black scarfs but will happily let down and show you to the tune of about 20 yuan. They'll do a bit of a hard sell, but the three dollars they're asking is a worthwhile price for the chance to interact with the friendly, laughing women. A light spa-style dinner is served at 5:30 at the Li-An Lodge, and the day's walking and stair-climbing will make you welcome an early bedtime.

The next morning, meet your guide at nine o'clock to hike through the terraces to Longji Village, a traditional Zhuang village of wooden houses, where you might see a resident washing laundry in the stream or making tofu or rice wine. The Zhuang people are traditionally an animist culture, with a strong history of art and music. Today, agriculture is the main industry. As the largest ethnic-minority group in the country, the Zhuang are generally thought to be well-assimilated into modern culture, but Longji displays their traditional way of life. The easy hike is about three hours round-trip, so you'll be back in time to check out of the lodge and then have lunch at the Ping An Guesthouse. You have to be back at the Guilin airport by six o'clock for your evening flight back to Shanghai, but in the meantime, you have the entire afternoon to explore the region. One of my favorite stops, a 20-minute drive from the hotel, was to a traditional Yao village, to sample "oily tea" in one of the villager's homes. The tea, more of a soup and admittedly an acquired taste, is made by first stir-frying rice in oil, then adding tea leaves, ginger, garlic, and finally boiling water. But even more fascinating than the drink itself was the chance to spend a half-hour watching an authentic minority household in action as it bridged the divide between traditional and modern; while the women of the house wore authentic local dress and prepared my tea in a wok over an open fire in the middle of the room, their young sons and brothers played video games in the corner. Best yet was the women's genuine hospitality, which made me feel like an honored guest. Another must-do stop, nearly two hours down the road from Ping An, is at the Liu San Jie tea plantation (86-773-542-2222). Of the four tea ceremonies I experienced in China, this was the most enjoyable and the least touristy-feeling. Even if you aren't a tea aficionado, the hostess's heartfelt enthusiasm in sharing her knowledge is contagious. After touring the grounds to see the planted tea bushes, you'll sit down with the hostess for a tea-appreciation lesson, during which she'll demonstrate the correct way to steep and serve several kinds of tea, her graceful, choreographed movements turning the rites into a sort of dance. You'll be able to sample the teas, which could include ginseng oolong, litchi black tea, or green tea with rosebuds. A tin of wonderfully sweet and fragrant osamanthus tea-a local specialty-costs only $14 and is the perfect souvenir of this area-after all, the English translation of "Guilin" is "osamanthus forest." From here, the airport is only a half-hour drive away. You'll be in Shanghai by late evening.

Total cost of trip, with this segment replacing that in Yunnan Province: $4,910 per person, including land and regional airfare.

HOW TO BOOK

Contact Gerald Hatherly at Abercrombie & Kent Hong Kong (852-2865-7818; cell, 852-9156-2260; hatherly@abercrombiekent.com.hk). The cost of the tour described is $5,156 per person, based on double occupancy. This includes hotel stays (specifically, 11 nights in the more affordable options cited and two at the Shangri-La Hangzhou, in the recommended room categories); airfare within China; guides, drivers, and ground transportation and meals except on Days 10 and 12 (daily breakfast is included throughout); entrance fees; a tour with the Shanghai historian; and taxes and hotel service charges. (The cost may fluctuate with the exchange rate.) This itinerary is only the beginning of what Gerald can arrange, but be aware that embellishments will cost more. Since China is 12 hours ahead of eastern standard time, I recommend e-mailing him first to brief him about your needs and to arrange a convenient time for a phone appointment. A&K Hong Kong is part of the international network of Abercrombie & Kent offices; if you must work with someone in the United States, you can call A&K in Oakbrook, Illinois (800-554-7016; abercrombiekent.com), but make sure the Oak Brook travel planner works closely with Gerald.